If exploring multiple interests is increasingly popular among Lawrence students, Michael Kim, associate professor of music and chair of the Keyboard Department, shares that same affinity. Recent highlights of his performing schedule have included repeated concerto appearances with the Boston and Cincinnati Pops, the Florida Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony, the symphonies of Milwaukee, Green Bay, Oklahoma City, Fox Valley, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and London, and numerous solo recitals and chamber music collaborations.
In addition to his work as a teacher and busy performance schedule, Kim is serving as faculty associate to the president for 2007-08, chairing the Senior Experience Task Force, charged with overseeing a theme-year focused on integrating the recently formalized Senior Experience program into the Lawrence University curriculum.
Kim, who holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Julliard School, feels that “the classical music industry has recently been undergoing seismic shifts and as a result, there is a need to cultivate a more broad, diverse array of skills in our young musicians, so that they can be more effective entrepreneurs and ambassadors for their art. Accepting these new challenges and working through them with my colleagues present a unique opportunity for Lawrence to be a leader in this area.”
Kim thinks of these new challenges as helping to shape education for the 21st century. “Each senior experience will synthesize and highlight the accumulated knowledge of our seniors differently,” says Kim. “It will help facilitate a more natural transition to life after Lawrence, and creatively framed, has great potential to meaningfully enhance the educational opportunities and experiences of our seniors, and foster more creative, collaborative teaching and projects. ”
Kim credits an innate sense of adventure — he is a lifelong fan of “Star Trek” — and his role as father to a five-year-old son as the motivation for exploring new interests and ways of doing things. “Being a dad, I’ve learned that I am happiest and am performing better when I’m focused on more than just music. Multiple interests enhance the specialty of what we do.”
View other faculty profiles from the president's annual report
